Del Rio School Parent Involvemen

Del Rio School Parent Involvement Policy and Procedures

School Year 2009-2010

Del Rio School is committed to the goal of providing quality education for every child in this district. To this end, we want to establish partnerships with parents and with the community. Everyone gains if Del Rio School and parents and/or guardians work together to promote high achievement by our children. Neither home nor Del Rio School can do the job alone. Parents play an extremely important role as children’s first teachers. Support for their children and for the school is critical to children’s success at every step along the way.

Del Rio School recognizes that some students may need the extra assistance available through the Title I program to reach the state’s high academic standards. Del Rio School intends to include parents in all aspects of the school’s programs. The goal is a school-home partnership that will help all students to succeed.

PART I-SCHOOL PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT POLICY REQUIRED COMPONENTS

A. Del Rio School will jointly develop/revise with parents the school parental

involvement policy/procedures and distribute it to parents of Del Rio students and

make available the parent involvement policy/procedures to the local community.

Actions will be:

· The school will solicit opinions/interests of parents at PTA meetings.

· Parents will be involved on the School Improvement Team.

· The Parent Involvement/Advisory Committee will be involved in the writing of this plan.

B. Convene an annual meeting, at a convenient time, to which all parents of participating

children shall be invited and encouraged to attend, to inform parents of their school’s

participation under this part and to explain the requirements of this part, and the right

of the parents to be involved.

Actions will be:

· The annual meeting will coincide with the Title 1 school-wide meeting, in the gym at Del Rio School.

· “Community Appreciation” cookout on August 4, 2008.

· For parents unable to attend the above meeting, teachers will be available from 3:00 until 3:30 for conferences during the week of August 11-15.

C. Offer flexible meetings, such as meetings in the morning or evening, and provide

transportation, child care, or home visits, as such services relate to parental involvement.

Actions to encourage parent /family attendance will be:

· Provide information in Spanish and English, if needed.

· Provide childcare.

· Send home a written reminder the day of the meeting.

· Make phone calls.

· Make home visits and/or provide transportation to meetings.

· Place information on signage at the front of the building.

· Ask for parental input through the use of an evaluation tool.

· Provide flexible meeting times, if needed.

· Hold monthly PTA meeting for parental involvement with flexible scheduling.

· Hold Parent Volunteer Meetings which have flexible scheduling.

D. Involve parents, in an organized, ongoing, and timely way, in the planning, review,

and improvement of the school plan (school-wide) under Section 1114, and the

process of the school review and improvement under Section 1116.

Actions will be:

· Completion of the Title I Parent Survey.

· Participation in the writing and revision of the School Improvement Plan.

· Parents/Family represented on all committees.

· Updates given at PTA monthly meetings.

E. Provide parents of participating children—

· Timely information about programs under this part.

· A description and explanation of the curriculum in use at the school, the forms

of academic assessment used to measure student progress, and the proficiency

levels students are expected to meet.

· If requested by parents, opportunities for regular meetings to formulate suggestions and to participate, as appropriate, in decisions relating to the education of their children, and respond to any such suggestions as soon as practically possible.

Actions to encourage attendance/participation and to disseminate information:

· Holding an annual Open House.

· Holding a beginning of the year Community Appreciation Cookout.

· Encouraging attendance at Parent-Teacher Conferences.

· Sponsoring periodic academic themed parent nights.

· Sharing T-CAP assessment results.

· Sending weekly behavioral reports for specific grades.

· Providing coverage of school events in the local newspaper.

· Sharing information via school newspaper, office memo/newsletter, classroom notes and letters.

· Providing a Homework Hotline for assignments and announcements.

· Updating school web page.

· Personal phone calls/postcards to invite family to events.

F. If the school-wide program plan is not satisfactory to the parents of participating

children, parents may submit comments on the plan when the school makes the plan

available to the district.

· If any program at Del Rio School is not satisfactory to the parents, and the issue can not be resolved with the School Improvement Team, classroom teacher(s), and/or principal, parental comments on the program will be submitted to the Central Office, Mr. Eddie Surber, Title I Director.

G. Del Rio School will inform parents and parental organizations of the purpose and

existence of the Parental Information and Resources Center (PIRC) in Washington.

· The PIRC program supports school-based parental information and resource centers that (1) help implement effective parental involvement policies, programs, and activities that will improve children's academic achievement; (2) develop and strengthen partnerships among parents, teachers, principals, administrators, and other school personnel in meeting the educational needs of children; (3) develop and strengthen the relationship between parents and their children's school; (4) further the developmental progress of children assisted under the program; (5) coordinate activities funded under the program with parental involvement initiatives funded under section 1118 and other provisions of the ESEA; and (6) provide a comprehensive approach to improving student learning, through coordination and integration of Federal, State, and local services and programs. Additional information concerning the Parental Information and Resource Center can be found at: http://www.ed.gov/programs/pirc/index.html

PART II-REQUIRED SHARED RESPONSIBILITIES FOR HIGH STUDENT ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

As a component of the school-level parental involvement policy, each school shall:

· Jointly develop with parents a school-parent compact that outlines how parents, the

entire school staff, and students will share the responsibility for improved student

academic achievement.

· Conduct a parent/teacher conference, during which the compact shall be discussed as the compact relates to the individual child’s achievement.

· Provide frequent reports to parents on their child’s progress.

· Provide parents with reasonable access to staff, opportunities to volunteer and

participate in their child’s class and observation of classroom activities.

· Distribute written notifications of child’s progress.

· Discuss student scores at individual parent conferences.

· Maintain an open door policy between parents, teachers and principal.

· Send Home School Connection home to parents.

BUILDING CAPACITY REQUIREMENTS FOR INVOLVEMENT

In order to ensure effective involvement of parents and to support a partnership among the school, parents, and the community to improve student academic achievement, each school and district under this part-

a. Shall provide assistance to the parents of children served by the school , as appropriate, in understanding such topics as the state’s academic content standards; state and district assessments, the requirements of this part, and how to monitor a child’s progress and work with educators to improve the achievement of their children; and the state’s student academic achievement standards.

Actions will include:

· STAR assessment parental letter.

· Annual parent-teacher conferences to discuss student achievement.

· Frequent progress reports to parents.

· Reasonable access to staff.

· Achievement test results and interpretation of data.

· School performance published in newspaper and available on the internet.

· Accelerated Reader report sent home each nine weeks.

· Writing assessment test results with explanation of scores.

· School sponsored activities allowing parental involvement.

· Timely response to parents’ suggestions with formal and informal meetings.

· Direct contact, telephone conversations, and notes.

b. Shall provide materials and training to help parents work with their children to

improve their children’s achievement, such as literacy training and using technology,

as appropriate, to foster parental involvement.

Actions will include:

· Family Math Night.

· Parent Engagement sessions.

· Access to the computer lab and library.

· Providing listing of appropriate web sites.

· Including Home School Connections in monthly newsletter.

c. Shall educate teachers, pupil services personnel, principals, and other staff, with the

assistance of parents, in the value and utility of contributions of parents, and in how to

reach out to, communicate with, and work with parents as equal partners, implement and

coordinate parent programs, and build ties between parents and the school.

Actions will include:

· Providing resources to teachers to assist in working with parents

· Making positive phone calls to parents.

· Providing monthly newsletters.

· Providing Teacher Ease information.

d. Shall to the extent feasible and appropriate, coordinate and integrate parent

involvement programs and activities with Head Start, Reading First, Early Reading

First, Even Start, the Home Instruction Programs for Preschool Youngsters, the Parents as Teachers Program, and public preschool and other programs, and conduct other activities, such as parent resource centers, that encourage and support parents in more fully participating in the education of their children.

· Parents are provided information from Cocke County’s Adult High School.

· Provide information concerning free books for 0-5 year olds, Imagination Library.

e. Shall ensure that information related to school and parent programs, meetings, and

other activities is sent to the parents of participating children in a format and, to the

extent practicable, in a language parents can understand.

Actions will include:

· Encouraging parents to enhance the involvement of other parents.

· Adopting and implementing model approaches to improving parental involvement.

· Utilizing a school parent advisory council to provide advice on all matters related to parental involvement.

· Developing appropriate roles for community-based organizations and businesses, including faith based organizations, in parental involvement activities.

f. Shall provide such other reasonable support for parental involvement activities.

· Meetings between teachers, other educators, and parents who work directly with participating children will be arranged at a variety of times, or conduct in-home conferences for those parents who may be unable to attend conferences at school in order to maximize parental involvement and participation in their children’s education.

g. May involve parents in the development of training for teachers, principals, and other

educators to improve the effectiveness of such training.

h. May provide necessary literacy training from funds received under this part if the

district has exhausted all other reasonably available sources of funding for such

training.

i. May pay reasonable and necessary expenses associated with local parental involvement

activities, including transportation and child care costs, to enable parents to participate

in school-related meetings and training sessions.

j. May train parents to enhance the involvement of other parents.

k. May arrange school meetings at a variety of times, or conduct in-home conferences between teachers or other educators, who work directly with participating children, with parents who are unable to attend such conferences at school, in order to maximize parental involvement and participation.

l. May adopt and implement model approaches to improving parental involvement.

m. May establish a district parent advisory council to provide advice on all matters

related to parental involvement in programs supported under this section.

n. May develop appropriate roles for community-based organizations and businesses in

parent involvement activities.

PART III-ACCESSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

In carrying out the parental involvement requirements districts and schools, to the extent practicable, shall provide full opportunities for the participation of parents with children with limited English proficiency, parents with children with disabilities, and parents of migratory children, including providing information and school reports in a format and, to the extent practicable, in a language such parents can understand.

Actions will include:

· Certified special education teacher on staff.

· Informational sessions held upon request to describe in further detail the RTI process, special education and the IEP process.

· Certified ESL teacher on staff.

· When appropriate reports/letters will be sent in multiple languages.

· Bilingual teacher available on staff.

· Babelfish.com will be used to translate documents.

PART IV-ADOPTION

This Del Rio School Parental Involvement Policy/Procedures have been developed/revised jointly with, and agreed upon with, parents of children participating in Title I program, as evidenced by meeting minutes.

The Parent Involvement Policy/Procedures were developed/revised by Del Rio School on August 7, 2008 and will be in effect for the period of the 2008-2009 school year. We will distribute these Parent Involvement Policy/Procedures to all parents of Del Rio School students and make it available to the community on or before August 15, 2008.

______________________________________ __________________________________

(Signature of Title I Authorized Representative) Signature of Title I Authorized Representative)

_______________________________________ __________________________________

(Date) (Date)

These parents were involved with the development of this document:

(List parents)

Cathy Kingery Melissa Strom Kathy Mohler

Kathy Jacobs

These staff members were involved with the development of this document: (List)

Jan Dellinger Doris Reece Jan Coggins

Erica Reese Robin Frazier Kacie Sane

Katie Fletcher Maritsa Green Susan Foshie

Kaye Ramsey Sandy Adams Vernell Holt

Tammy Rathbone Andre Pratt June Rathbone

Meka Henderson